State of Music February 2012

How is the music business doing through the first six weeks of 2012? The short answer: Pretty good! The long answer: You wait, just wait!

Touring is up over 15% across the board. More bands are streaming live events than ever before. Proof from Sleigh Bells right here.

Breakthrough artists like Lana Del Rey and Fun are starting to make waves on charts and tours across the U.S. Madonna announced an ambitious world tour that takes her from the Tel Aviv to Yankee Stadium To Australia and ends up in Atlanta, starting in May. Van Halen released a new album and also has a huge tour upcoming with Kool and the Gang. All look to be a huge boost to the touring industry.

Spotify is making serious headway. Although, I believe its still just a promotional vehicle for artists, with windowing and proper strategy you can still maximize your music sales without cannibalizing iTunes or Amazon. This will be an interesting year to follow the Spotify growth line closely in both users, consumption and revenues. With the licensing barrier entry-point being more difficult than ever, Spotify is positioned correctly to grab exponential growth in 2012. The number 1 retailer is still iTunes and Apple is mum on the streaming word. What will Apple do? Wait, just wait.

One thing I do agree with Daniel Ek is that we’re entering a special time to be in the music business. Its never been a better time to be a creator, producer or business in the music industry. There is more music being created and more ears listening than ever before.

“…I am more bullish on the future of the music industry than ever before, and I think we’re kind of entering a golden age in music.” – Daniel Ek, Spotify CEO 2/10/2012

The Grammys had many highlights including emerging stars Foster The People’ performance of the Beach Boys “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”,Jennifer Hudson’ cover of the late Whitney Houston “I Will Always Love You” and the fact that this was the highest rated Grammys (39 million people tuned in) in 28 years! Adele continued her wild ride into super stardom by picking up 6 Grammys. Congrats!

MySpace added 1,000,000 new users after debuting its new Music Refocus, thats up 4% since December. Fresh off debuting its baked in music applications, Facebook announced an IPO to raise five billion dollars. This money will surely be spread to improve the music portion of the social media giant.

Keep writing, stay motivated, finish that song, finish that album, take care of your self on the road. Off to a great 1st quarter in 2012, lets keep up the momentum! Wait, just wait.